Welcome to the new age
by twdspn
Summary: Andy is on her own, she has to choose between Daryl, Rick and Shane.
1. Chapter 1

It sucks. Going to sleep every night, not knowing if you'll wake up in the morning dead or alive. Every step you take could be a mistake, could be the last step you take alive. No food, water, electricity, no one and nothing. As of a month ago, that's my life. My friends, family, everyone is gone.

I hope there's more people like me, more survivors. There's gotta be someone, something. Those creatures took everything from me, from everyone. Once your bit, your done. Gone. Nothing you can do about it. no cure, nothing. The only way to kill them for good, is the brain, kill em' for good then.

I'm heading toward Atlanta, heard it's safe from my friend, he died 2 weeks ago. I'm all alone with the creatures. Not that I don't believe my friends, but it's a huge city, might've been overrun. I'm headed that way, but through the woods just in case, I feel safer in the woods then on the street, in the open.

Maybe when I'm closer to the city ill find more survivors. I'm coming from South Carolina, I've got nothing left there, just a bunch a creatures. I've been headed for Atlanta for the last 2 weeks. Bet i'm almost there. Can't risk sleeping, might get bit, killed. I don't wanna die. It was about noon. I thought I should be in Georgia by now. Feels like I been walking forever.

Suddenly, I heard voices, "son of a bitch! That's my deer! All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" the voice exclaimed. Other people! I thought to myself.

I didn't think, I just ran as fast as I could to the voices. I ran into a muscular man holding a crossbow. "Who da' hell are you?" he asked me. "I... I'm sorry. I've been alone for the past 2 weeks, no sleep, barley any food or water, please help me," I said. The creature on the ground moved, the man shot it and said " shut up" then turned back to me, his gaze softened. "Come back to camp" he said. "Daryl, we don't t know her" said so me guy with black curlish hair. Daryl, so that's his name. Then Daryl looked at me, "seems harmless enough" he said. And they led me to their camp.


	2. Chapter 2

When we got back to the camp Daryl started calling for some guy named Merel and how he got them squirrel. The guy with the black curlish hair and another guy went over to Daryl and started talking to him, too low for me to here. Then I heard Daryl say, "well he's either dead or he ain't!"

Then he came to me and said "come on, i'll show ya the camp." He sounded pissed off, maybe he just wanted to go for a walk with me to cool off. We started walking in silence.

He finally said something. "So what's your name shorty?" he asked me. "Andy" I replied, "and your Daryl I'm guessing." "Yes I am shorty" he said. "So what happened back with those two guys?" I asked. He tensed up. "One of em's new" he finally said. "Names Rick I guess, he handcuffed my brother Merel to a roof in Atlanta and left him there." "Oh my god I'm so sorry" I said to Daryl. "I'm going back for him, can't leave my big brother up there, dead or alive" he said. "I'll come with you" I said to Daryl. "I barley know ya shorty" he said. "Okay fair enough, my names Andy I'm from South Carolina. Now ya know me, lets go" I said to Daryl. "I don't want ya getting hurt" he said to me. "I'll be fine, I wanna help you find your brother, I know what it's like to loose someone you love" I said to him. He just looked at me for a few seconds. Then said "All right if you insist, I'll let ya come. We leave first thang tomorrow. You got a weapon?" He asked me. I pulled out mu hunters knife, "yep" I replied. "Good. Alright you've seen the area, lets head back before it gets too dark" he said.

Then we walked back to camp so I could meet everyone.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up the next morning, I got dressed in dark skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, some biker boots, and grabbed my hunting knife on my way out to find Rick Grimes, the guy who was leading the trip to Atlanta.

When I walked outside my tent, I saw the guy with the black curlish hair (I learned his name was Shane) sitting outside my tent. He looked at my come out and said, "Good morning." "Good morning" I said back to him. "I uh, I just wanted to come meet you officially, I'm Shane Walsh" he said and stuck out his hand for me to shake. I shook it and said "I'm Andy, nice to meet you Shane Walsh." He put his hand behind his neck, I could tell he was nervous. "So your all good here? And your going with Rick to find Merel?" Shane asked me. "Yeah I guess" I replied. "Okay, well I'll, uh, I'll talk to you later then" he said then walked away from me.

I found Rick packing a car for Atlanta. "Hey Rick!" I called to him. He turned around and smiled at me. "Hey it's Andy isn't it?" He asked me. "That would be correct" I replied. "So I was thinking maybe you should stay here, you were out there for a while alone and I think maybe you should rest up and get to know everyone around her a little bit better" Rick said to me. "I guess I could do that, does Daryl know?" I asked Rick. "No, haven't run it past him, he's in his tent getting ready if ya wanted to go tell him" Rick said. "Alright, good luck out there" I told Rick before going to find Daryl's tent.

When I found it, I went inside it. "Knock Knock" I said as I entered the tent. Daryl was cleaning his crossbow, he looked up at me. "Need somethin' shorty?" He asked me. "Rick said I should stay back at the camp and rest instead of going to help find Merel" I told him. "Alright shorty" He said, but looked a little disappointed. "I hope you find your brother" I told him and went over and hugged him. He tensed up, but I looked up at him smiled and walked out of his tent.

After the group headed to Atlanta left, I went to go help Lori and Carol do some laundry. "Hey guys, need some help?" I asked them. "That would be great, thanks hun" Lori said to me. I started doing the laundry with the two, Lori started talking to me. "So where are you from Andy?" She asked me. "South Carolina" I responded. Just then Lori's son Carl came over to us. "Mom! Mom!" He said. "What is it honey?" Lori asked him. "Can I go catch frogs with Shane at the quarry?" He asked her. "Of course honey, be safe." She responded. "Always am mom!" He said as he walked away. "I'm going to take a break and watch them catch frogs" Carol said. "Alright" Lori said, "Have fun."

Me and Lori continued doing the laundry, listening to Shane and Carl screaming 'Get em' Carl! Get em'!' or 'I almost had it Shane! Almost!' I smiled to myself, it felt almost normal again.

Just then we heard screaming down at the quarry. Me and Lori ran down to see what was going on. Shane was beating up Carol's husband. Carol was lying on the ground, she looked hurt. Me and Lori ran over to get Shane off him, and when we finally got him off he just walked away. "Shane! Shane!" I called, "Shane!" I said then he finally turned around. "What do you want?" He asked me. "What the hell was that?" I asked him. "He was hitting Carol. No ones gonna hit anyone round here, especially a woman who was done nothing but good round here and to him" Shane said. "Look Shane" I said then grabbed his hand. "I agree, you can't hit a women, but you could have killed him, and that would have been bad also" I said to Shane. "He would've disserved it" Shane said to me. "I know he's a dick, Shane, but no one disserves to die, today or any day" I told him, then let go of his hand and walked back to my tent to get some rest.


	4. Chapter 4

When I got up, I had slept for about a hour, I went out of my tent of help make lunch.

Carol was already making lunch, probably for her dick-head husband. I saw she had a bad bruise me her arm, I went over to help her. "Hey Carol, need some help?" I asked her. She looked up at me and smiled. "That would be wonderful" She replied. I started helping her make lunch for everyone, it was mostly silent as we worked.

Once we finished, we put everything on plates and headed toward some picnic tables we had set up. We put the plates down and Carol took one in for her husband, who was in their tent sleeping. "Thank you, Andy, for making us lunch" Shane said to me. I smiled at him, "Your welcome" I said. Everyone started eating.

Once we finished I got up to go in a walk, when Shane came over to me. "Hey Andy. You going for a walk?" He asked me. "Yeah" I responded, "Would you like to join me?" I asked him. He just nodded his head and we started walking, no where in particular.

"That lunch you and Carol made was good" He said, trying to make a conversation. "Thanks" I replied. "So tell me about yourself" He said to me. "Well what do ya wanna know?" I asked him. "Well, where ya from? Why'd ya leave?" He asked me. "South Carolina. I left because it got overrun by walkers, nothing left for me there" I said to him. "Oh, I'm sorry" He said as he grabbed my hand. I smiled to myself, Shane wasn't bad, though I thought there was something off about him. I liked Daryl too I guess, but I'm not sure f I was looking for anyone while the world was in shit.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, after about 20 minutes we turned around, heading back to the camp. Only making small talk, but still holding hands.

Once we got back, it was getting dark so Shane went to go start a fire. We decided if the rest of the group wasn't back by tomorrow night, we would go out and look for then

Once Shane got a fire going, I sat by him and put my head on his shoulder. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep at that point. We all just sat there talking about really nothing, Shane was talking about how Jim was going insane, digging holes all day in the 100 degree weather, while I was napping.

I think there was a reason for it, no one just goes around digging holes, but there really was no reason. About 10 minutes of just sitting there, looking at the fire we heard a scream.

It was Andrea's sister, Amy. She was bit. Then a whole pack of walkers came in the camp, attacking people, biting people. "Andy stay by me!" Shae yelled to me. I took my hunting knife out and started stabbing the hell out of the walkers.

One came from behind me and collapsed on me, I couldn't get away, but it didn't bite me yet. Then a arrow went threw its head and it stopped trying to bit me, I got up and saw Daryl there, he gave me a smile then went to go kill more walkers. I got up and most of the walkers were dead or good now. Carol's husband and Amy and some other I didn't know were bit and dead.

I went back to my tent without saying anything to anyone. I hope we can find a cure, this world is sick.

"Knock Knock" I heard a gruff voice say, then Daryl entered my tent. "Hey" I said to him. "Ya okay shorty?" He asked me. "I'm good, thanks for helping me" I said to him. "No problem" He said. "So how was Atlanta? Find Merel?" I asked him. He looked sad, but answered, "No, we found his hand on the roof, we got surrounded and Glenn went out to get a bag that had guns in it and he got kidnapped but we got him back and when we went to get the vehicle, it was gone, and Merle took it" Daryl answered. "Wow, and everyone made it back?" I asked. "Yeah, well get some sleep shorty, I'll see ya in the morning" He said then walked out of my tent.

I went to my bed and tried to fall asleep. Though it was hard, I just layed there for a while when I heard someone come in. I grabbed my knife, just in case it was a stray walker from the nights earlier events. But it was Daryl. "Hey sorry to bother you, but you seemed pretty scared, just wanted to know if ya wanted to come to my tent tonight? I have a extra cot" He said to me. "Yeah, that would be great, thanks Daryl" I replied to him. He smiled and held out his hand. I took it and he led his way to his tent. I got in and the cot was made and ready for me. I slipped into it and said "Good night Daryl, thank you for this." "Good night shorty" He said to me.

I fell asleep quickly after that.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up to the sound of someone coming in the tent.

It was daylight out already. I looked up and saw Daryl carrying in 2 plates of food. He saw that I was awake and smiled.

"Mornin'" He said to me. "Good morning" I replied. "Got ya some squirrel for breakfast" He said. "Thanks I said and grabbed the plate from him. "Wanna eat in here?" He asked me, "It smells pretty bad out there and there's a few bodies laying on the ground." "Yeah we can eat in here" I replied.

We ate in silence for a few minutes before Daryl started talking, "So how'd ya sleep last night shorty?" He asked me. "Good" I replied, "Better then I would have in my own tent that's for sure. Thank for letlting me stay in here" I said. He just looked up at me and nodded his head. "So how was Atlanta?" I asked him. "Well I told ya about Glenn, and we didn't find my bruther" He said in his southern accent. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, I wish i could've come to help" I said. "We know he's alive, somewhere, he took our vehicle so we had to walk the whole way back" Daryl said. "Oh, so do you think Merle will come here?" I asked him. "Maybe, if he can find his way" Daryl replied.

We ate the rest of out breakfast in silence.

"Well thank you again Daryl, I should go out and help with dishes and cleaning up the camp" I said to Daryl as I was walking out of his tent. "Welcome shorty, anytime. If ya wanna come in here again ya just tell may' I'll come out and help clean up too" Daryl said as he ledthe way out of his tent.

I saw Andrea still sitting by Amy's body. The two were so close, I feel really bad for Andrea.

I saw Rick and Shane moving the bodies into a pill when Jim came over and said, "Now I remember why I dug the wholes" Then walked back into his tent. I went over to help Rick and Shane.

I started moving the bodies, when Jacqui yelled, "Jim got bit!" Daryl ran over and lifted up Jim's shirt, and sure enough, he was bit. "Man, why didn't ya tell us?" Daryl asked. Rick and Shane walked Jim to the RV and kept him inside, as me, Shane, Daryl and Rick moved the bodies into holes.

Andrea wouldn't let us have Amy's body until Amy came back as a walker.

Any woke up, but as a walker and Andrea started crying, but insisted she shoot her, because Amy was her sister.

After Andrea shot Amy, Andrea went into her tent for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day was uneventful, we knew we had to go somewhere else soon, it wasn't safe here anymore. Walkers were running out of food in the city and coming up here.

At the fire that night, I sat in between Shane and Daryl.

"So Andy, do you want to stay in my tent tonight or are ya alright?" Daryl asked me. "I think I'm okay, but thanks Daryl. If I need ya I'll come get ya" I replied. "Alright shorty" He said then got up and went into his tent. I stayed out with Shane.

Eventually everyone went into their tents, but me and Shane stayed out to watch the fire some more.

"So you slept in Daryl's tent last night?" Shane asked me. "Yeah, he saw I was shaken up bout' the events that took place, and offered to have me stay in his tent" I replied.

"If I knew that you coulda' stayed with me" Shane said, he sounded jealous. "I didn't know that" I said. "Do ya like him?" Shane asked.

The question took me by surprise. Did I like Daryl? Did I like Shane? I kinda liked Rick, he was nice, but he was married of course he was out of the picture right now. Did I want a relationship in a world of shit? I guess I did like Daryl a little, but he would never like me, I'm not even sure it's a good idea to get close to somebody right now. I don't wanna get hurt again. I don't wanna loose someone again. What about Shane? Do I like Shane? I guess he's okay, but I just don't know right now.

I was deep in my thoughts and forgot to answer Shane, but he broke me out of my train of thought.

"Andy? You alright?" He asked me. I looked up at him, "Oh yeah, just thinking" I replied. "So do you?" He asked again. "I don't know" And that was the truth, I don't know right now. I just got here 3 days ago. "And me?" He asked. "I don't know" I said again.

We sat there in silence for about ten minutes, Shane put his arm around me. Then we both went to our tents.

When I got in I took off my boots, put my knife by my cot, slipped into my bed, and fell asleep quickly.


	6. Chapter 6

When I woke up the next day, I got dressed, grabbed my knife and headed out to make breakfast for the rest of the group.

No one else was up yet, so I made it by myself, thought I didn't mind.

I roasted some deer that Daryl had caught earlier in the week, and sliced a apple that Rick had brought back from Atlanta, I made sure everyone got one slice. I took Daryl breakfast though he wasn't awake yet, so I left it by his cot. Shane was the second one up, and me and him ate breakfast together. The sun was just coming up.

"Morning" Shane said as he came out of his tent. "Good morning" I said as I handed him his breakfast.

He sat down and began eating. "How did you sleep?" He asked me. "As good as you do in the end of the world, what about you?" I asked him. "Same as you I guess" He replied.

Just then Lori walked out of her tent and went right to the RV to check on Jim.

"Oh I forgot he was in there" I told Shane. "He was a good man, I'm sorry we lost him" Shane said. I nodded my head and continued to eat. Lori walked out of the RV and came to join me and Shane. She sat down by me and just gave Shane a dirty look. I wondered what was going on between them. He just looked back at her. "Good morning Lori" He said to her. Lori just got up and walked away. "What's with her?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders, but I knew he knew what was wrong with her.

The rest of the camp started to stir, I went to go see if Daryl was up yet.

"Knock Knock" I said as I went into his tent. He was up and ate half of his breakfast. "You make this shorty?" He asked me as I walked in all the way. "I did" I replied. "It's good, the camp is luck to have you, I'm lucky to have you" Then he looked down at his breakfast like he was embarrassed he had said that out loud. I smiled and sat down on his cot and put my head on his shoulder.

"I'm lucky to have you too Daryl" I said while still leaning on him. I wondered if he actually meant that. I wondered if he liked me, the way I liked him. We sat on his bed for awhile, until Daryl suggested that I come hunting with him. I excepted and he grabbed his cross-bow. I just brought my hunting knife with me.

We walked out into the woods and it was so peaceful, Daryl seemed like he knew his way, it was almost like he belonged in the woods.

With only 5 minutes into the hunt, Daryl already shot a squirrel and I of course had nothing. I've never hunted before, what can I say?

I saw a squirrel on the ground, looking for food, Daryl came over to me and handed me his cross-bow. He didn't make a sound, but should me the hand motions of how to shoot it. I actually didn't do bad at it, being my first time. I shot the squirrel after 2 try's, but I still shot it and that's all that counts in my book.

Daryl got one more squirrel then we headed back to the group.

When we got there, Rick called me and Daryl over to a little circle, the whole group except the children were in the circle. Shane came over and stood by me and Daryl. Rick started talking, "So as we all know, it's not very safe up here anymore. And I would like to lead a group, could be all of us, but if you choose to stay here that's okay too. I want to go find A more safer place, like a CDC. Will anyone join me?" Rick asked the group

Shane was the first to raise his hand, "I'll go, I agree It's not safe" He said. Daryl also said he would go. I said I would go, along with T-dog, Andrea, Dale, Jacqui, Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophia and we would take Jim and leave him somewhere to pass on peacefully.

It was settled, the rest of the group would stay here and the ones who were going, leave tomorrow morning, first thing.

I went to my tent and packed my few clothes and a few extra water bottles I had in my bag still. All that was left for me to pack tomorrow was my blanket, tent and cot.

After I packed my things, I headed out to make dinner, since me and Daryl had missed lunch.

Shane was sitting at the eating area waiting for dinner. Before I could go over to help make dinner, he called me over to go sit by him and talk.

"Hey" He said. "Hi" I replied. "So you and Daryl have been spending time together" He said. "Well, I guess, but not like that" I replied, "Why does it matter to you anyway?" I asked. "I don't know, I guess I might..." He paused. He looked nervous, "I... I kinda like you" He finally said. I looked at him in shook. He's known me for like a week. How can he have feelings for me? My main problem right now was figuring out if I liked Shane or Daryl.

Shane got up and walked away, and I went to go help with dinner.

Lori and Carol were getting out the squirrel that me and Daryl caught.

"So you and Daryl went hunting?" Lori asked me. "Yeah I caught one using his cross-bow... after taking two shots, I got it. "Well good job, and thank you for the food, but you and Daryl?" She asked me. "Oh, no, no, no It's not like that, I mean, I don't know" I said honestly. "Well I think he has a thing for you, while you were talking with Shane all he could talk about was you and how amazing you are" Lori said. "Really?" I asked, I couldn't help but blush. "Yeah, his exact words were, 'I'm glad she came here, were lucky to have her, I'm lucky to have her, I...I mean she can hunt good and she helps around the camp a lot, I'm happy she's here' and that's about what he said, he turned red after saying he's lucky to have you" Lori said.

By then my face was as red as a cherry, I couldn't help it, I did have feeling for Daryl. I just didn't want to admit it to myself yet.

After we cooked the squirrel, we put it on plates and brought it out to the group. This was my last dinner with the whole group together. Why ciuldnt we just stay together, I thought to myself.

I sat next to Daryl and Rick, with Shane across from me, glancing up at me a few times and just looking at me.

Dinner was good, after that I didn't stay out for the fire, I was too tired and didn't want to be tired tomorrow for the trip. I went into my tent and fell asleep quickly after I layed down.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up the next day, and packed up my blanket and folded my cot up and brought it outside for Rick to put in the RV. He took it from me and I went to go pack up my tent.

"Want help?" I turned around and Shane was standing there looking at me. "Sure, thanks" I replied. He started helping me pack up my tent. Once we finished he took it to Rick and came back over to talk with me. "So how are you?" He asked me. "Awesome and you?" I asked "Great, so... are you riding with Daryl on his motorcycle to find the CDC?" Shane asked me. "Maybe, I'm not sure. We haven't talked about it" I replied. "Well if ya need somewhere to be you can always ride with me" Shane said and got up to go help Rick pack all our stuff.

I sat at the eating area by myself for a little bit, watching Carl and Sophia play, or watching Shane and Rick pack up all our supplies. We were leaving around noon, not everyone that was going was up yet, Daryl being the only one who wasn't up yet.

I finally got up, and went to see if Rick and Shane needed any help. "Hey, need a extra hand?" I asked. "Yeah, that would be awesome Andy, thanks" Rick replied. I started helping pack.

The Georgia heat was hot on my back, I had gotten a good tan being out in the hot sun all the time. Just then I felt a hand on my back, I turned around and Daryl was standing there. "Mornin Andy" He said to me then removed his hand and went over to Rick, "Need help there?" He asked him. "Sure, thanks" Rick replied then turned to me, "Andy, can you go see if the others that are going with us have anything else that needs packing? I want to go with in this hour" Rick said. "Sure thing" I replied then turned to go find the others that were going with us.

I found the others sitting in the eating area, "Hey guys, Rick wants to know if there's anything else that needs packing" I said. "Nope, I think we're all set Andy" T-dog replied. I gave them a thumbs up, "Awesome, we're leaving with in the hour" I said then ran back to tell Rick. "All set" I said to Rick when I got back.

I started packing more things in the RV. Once we were done, everyone said their goodbyes to the people that weren't coming with us. "Hey, can I ride with you?" I asked Daryl. "Of course shorty, put my cross-bow on you back so it's not in your face" He said then handed me his cross-bow. I took it and slung it over my back and hoped on his bike.

He started it then took off following Rick's car with some other car and Dale's RV. I wrapped my hands around Daryl's waist and rested my head on his back. He seemed to relax a bit when I put my arms around him. Did this guy really like me? I thought to myself.

The ride seemed to last forever, but we found the CDC just outside if Atlanta, and went to go see if anyone was still there. We didn't have much supplies left, or gas so we were really living on a prayer in that moment.

Rick went up and started pounding on the door. "Hey! Anyone in there?" He yelled. Nothing. "Come on I know your there!" Rick yelled again. Lori stepped up, "Come on there's no one" She said. He just shrugged her off then went up to the door again, "Hey come on open up! We have women and children with barley any supplies, we need help come on!" Rick kept yelling and banging on the door. He was making too much noise I thought to myself and looked around and saw a walker coming toward us. Daryl saw it too and shot it down before I had time to react. Shane went up to Rick and started pulling him away from the door, "Come on man, there's no one here" Shane said. "Look! The camera it moved" He went up to the door again, and pounded on it. Shane grabbed Rick, Rick tried to get away and kept screaming, "Your killing us! Your killing us!" As Shane was pulling him away toward where we parked. Just then he doors to the CDC opened and Shane stopped pulling on Rick, and Rick stopped screaming. We all just stared


	8. Chapter 8

We walked inside the CDC. Everyone was in awestruck. Maybe we were finally safe, we wouldn't live in hell everyday. It was huge in the building, it was big from the outside too, but inside was just simply amazing.

A guy came down from some stairs and said, "Who are you? What do you want?" Rick stepped up and said, "A chance" The man replied, "That's an awful lot to ask these days." Then Rick said, "Please, we have women and children. No gas and we're low on supplies" The guy looked at all us then said "Get all your supplies, once those doors close they don't open again." "THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Almost everyone screamed to the man on the steps.

We all ran back outside and grabbed out things and went back into the CDC Once we went back in, the man introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner and we all introduced our selves. We went into the elevator and went down to the very last floor of the building.

"Go easy on the hot water if you take a shower" Jenner said. "Hot water?" Lori asked. "That's what the man said right?" T-dog said with a huge smile on his face.

Jenner lead us into a big room with computers and everything. "So where's all the doctors?" Rick asked. "Just me" Jenner replied. I could tell Shane and Daryl wanted to ask him more but didn't.

After everyone got al settled in, we had dinner. Jenner had a table set up and we had wine and hot food. It was the first time in a while we could all just relax and be ourselves again. Can I try some wine dad?" Carl asked Rick. "I don't see why not" Rick replied. I could tell Lori didn't want him to, but didn't push it. Carl took a sip then made a face of disgust. "Ew" He said and everyone at the table laughed. I felt like I was myself again, back to the way it was before, but something tald me it wasn't.

After dinner I went back to my room to take that hot shower I was looking forward to. Just then I heard a knock at my door. I opened the door to find Daryl standing there. "Hey" I said and led him into my room. "Need something?" I asked and he nodded his head, "Do you wanna learn to shoot a gun?" He asked me then pulled out two guns, "If your good enough, I'll let ya keep one instead of the hunting knife" He said. "Sure" I said and he smiled at me and held out his hand. I excepted it and we walked down the hall together to go find the shooting range.

I was surprised at how well I did after the first few trys. I didn't hold it right at first so Daryl came over and stood behind me and led my hands to the right way to hold it.

It would have been the perfect date, minus the fact it was the end of the world and I wasn't so sure this guy liked me.

After I missed the target a few times, I hit the bull's-eye and Daryl was very impressed with me.

"Now I don't let a lot of people do this, in fact your the first. Do you want to try and shoot my cross-bow?" He asked me. "Yes I would I said.

He handed it to me then put his arms around me so guided me hand o the right position, and kept his arms there until I shot the arrow and hit the bulls-eye.

"Nice job!" Daryl exclaimed. "I'm pro" I said and smirked at him.

Once we were done he walked me back to my room and left me to go take my hot shower.

It felt so good to finally feel hot water again.

Once I was done I got dressed and went to sleep in a warm bed, which was also something I hadn't done in a while.

Always enjoy the little things at the end of the world.

I feel asleep quickly after I layed down


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up in the morning feeling really refreshed. I just layed in bed thinking how lucky I was before the world went to shit, and how lucky I am now to be here.

I got up out of bed and went to take another shower. After that I got dressed in new dark skinny jeans and a plaid shirt that I found in a supply closet. I put on my biker boots and grabbed my hunting knife and gun, even though I didn't think I would need them.

I went down the main section of the CDC and most everyone was awake and eating the breakfast Jenner had made. He made pancakes and syrup. He also had wine and juice out, and the little kid in me made me take juice instead of wine.

Daryl motion me to come sit by him and pulled out a seat for me. I went over and sat next to him and started eating.

Shane and Lori were exchanging dirty looks and I wondered what happened. Then Shane looked at me and Daryl talking and laughing and he just put his head down.

"So what happened here?" Rick asked. Jenner stopped chewing then looked up at Rick. "It's that time already huh" He replied then went over to his computer. "Everyone here knew it was happening, they either died from one of those things, or they killed themselves in the hallways" Jenner explained.

"Okay... so what about the walkers, what happens to human after they get bit or die?" Daryl asked. "Well I'll show you" Jenner replied and pulled up a image of the brain. "This was a test subject, she volunteered to do this because she was already dying, so this is the brain" He explained, "This is the part that helps you move" He said pointing at the picture, "And this is the part that makes you, you."

Then all of a sudden the brain turned off, then came back on, but it was all black.

"And that's what happens, everything that you were, or would become is gone. Every part of you is gone" Jenner explained.

"Oh my god" I said and Daryl put his arm around me to comfort me.

"And Jenner, if ya don't mind me asking, what"s that clock counting down to?" Rick asked.

Jenner looked at us all, then pushed a button and a door came down and locked us in the room with him.

"That clock, Mr. Grimes, is counting down to out extinction" He said.

"You can't do this! you son of a bitch!" I screamed and tried to run to Jenner and beat the living daylights out of him, but Daryl grabbed me and pulled me closer to him.

"It's better this way" Jenner kept saying over and over again. I finally just said, "Shut up asshole! It's not better this way. Your such a dumbass." "Andy, please we need to be nice if we're ever going to get a chance to get out of here" Rick said to me, then he turned to Jenner and started talking to him, pleading for our lives.

I turned to the clock, 10 minutes left.

Daryl grabbed me and turned me to him, I looked at him and he looked at me. Then smiled softly and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back and said, "If there's anything I should know, tell me now or forever hold you peace" I said and looked up at him.

"Well what should you know?" He asked me. "I don't know... anything" I said. Then looked at the clock and it said 6 minutes, then I looked back at Daryl.

"Okay well, there is one thing" He said nervously. "And what would that be?" I asked him.

Then Rick shouted, "We're leaving now! Right now! We have a chance, get everything now! NOW!" He screamed.

I quickly got up and ran out of the door and we all gathered there and tried to open up the front doors, then turned to the windows.

"Rick! That grenade!" Glenn shouted. Then Rick took out a grenade and flung it at the windows and they broke.

"Run now!" Rick exclaimed. No one wasted a second. We blotted out of the CDC and to our cars.

"GET DOWN!" Rick yelled and Daryl jumped on me and cover me and the CDC blew up.

"Where's Andrea, Dale and Jacqui?" I asked as Andrea and Dale came up to the car.

"Jacqui stayed behind with Jenner and died" Dale explained. I was sad to here that, but everyone would die at one point.

I hoped on the back of Daryl motor cycle, and we started heading away from the place that used to be the CDC.


	10. Chapter 10

We rode down the highway for what seemed like hours. I was hanging on tightly to Daryl the whole time.

Finally Rick pulled over and signaled everyone to come over to him. I looked around and saw a lot of cars in the middle of the highway. There was dead walkers inside of most of them.

Once everyone got over to Rick he started talking, "It's gettin' dark out and we don't have anywhere else to go, the RV is broke so we gotta fix it. We need to stay here for now. It looks safe enough for now, get comfortable" Rick said then walked to his car to get his, Lori and Carl's stuff ready for the night. I walked over to Daryl and handed him his cross-bow.

"Thanks for letting me ride with you" I said as I handed him the cross-bow. "Welcome shorty" He replied and gave me a small smile. I returned it and turned around to see Shane standing behind me.

"Hey" He said. "Hi" I replied then started to walk over to Rick to get my things, but Shane grabbed my arm and spun me back around toward me. "What do you want Shane?" I asked him and he looked into my eyes and kissed my cheek, "You" He replied. I just stood there until Daryl came over and grabbed me. "That's enough Shane, I think it's very clear she likes me and I like her too" Daryl said then I looked to him my mouth dropped.

Daryl just said he liked me back! But Shane likes me too! I thought to myself. "Well it's her choice!" Daryl yelled at Shane then grabbed me and pulled me away from Shane and helped me unload my stuff from Rick's car. "Ya sleeping in the RV?" Daryl asked. "Yea probably, Shane's sleeping in Rick's car" I replied. "I'm staying in there too. Carol and Sophia are staying in the other car together. Dale and T-dog are taking watch, Lori, Carl and Rick are taking the big bed in the RV and Andrea is staying the in RV" Daryl told me. "Awesome" I replied and started to walk away. I heard him sigh so I turned back around and walked back over to him grabbed his face and kissed him.

I pulled away and he was in shock, and so was I.

I just did that I thought to myself. I looked around and no one else saw so I turned around and started to walk to the RV.

I walked in and sat down on the couch. Is this what I want? I thought to myself. Does Daryl hate me now? I don't even know if he really likes me. He said he did but I don't know if I believe it. But Shane... I just don't know.

I sat and thought awhile then grabbed my stuff and unpacked it, though not all of it just in case.

I was unpacking when someone grabbed my waist and pulled me to the ground, under the table in the RV.

I tried to scream, but they put a hand over my mouth and I looked to see who it was and it was Daryl. "What are you doing?" I asked him and he put a finger to his mouth, telling me to be quiet. "What?" I whispered. He pointed out the window and mouthed 'walkers'. Shit, I thought to myself.

Daryl put his arms around me to comfort me and I put my head on his stomach.

We layed there for about ten minutes until he got up to check and see if there were anymore walkers, but quickly ducked back down.

They weren't gone yet.

He layed back down and we stayed there for about five more minutes. He tapped my back and I looked up at him, "If we die right here, I want you to know something" He whispered in my ear. "What's that?" I whispered back. He grabbed my face and kissed me, I kissed him back. We kept kissing until we heard a scream.

I pulled away from him and ran outside, gun in my hand, Daryl was right behind me.

I could hear Carol sobbing, "Sophia no!" I looked into the woods and saw Rick Running into the woods after Sophia.

I ran over to Carol to comfort her, Lori ran over too. "She.. She's gone! She's gone!" Carol kept saying over and over again.

"No she isn't Carol, Rick will find her. It's okay honey, It's okay" Me and Lori would say to her to keep her calm, but It would never work.

It started getting darker and most everyone went to their beds except me, Lori and Carol. Rick still hadn't come back.

We sat on top of the RV with Dale and T-dog till Rick came out of the woods without Sophia. Carol ran over to him and he just shook his head and said, "I didn't find her, we have to stay here. I know she's alive. I hid her in bushes and lead the walkers away. I told her to come back here when she was safe. We'll set up a search party first ting tomorrow morning" Rick said then out his hand on Carol's shoulder, "We'll find her Carol, I promise you" Rick said then walked up to the RV.

"I'm headed in too, you guys should too. It's not safe" I said then walked up to the RV. I opened the door and Daryl was laying on the couch. Andrea was on the other one and there was no where for me. I started to get settled on the floor, when Daryl said, "Come in here with me shorty" He said and I looked up ad him and he had made room for me next to him on the couch. I sat up and said, "Well It's not awkward?" "No it's fine, if it makes you uncomfortable I'll sleep on the floor" Daryl replied. "I guess it's okay" I said then got on the couch and turned away from him. "Ya know what would make this less awkward?" He asked me, "What's that?" I asked him "If you were my girl" He said and I turned to him. "So... are you asking me or just saying it?" I asked and he said, "I know I'm not the ideal person to be with, and I've never had a relationship and the world has gone to shit, but I know one thing. And that is, I wanna be with you, I want you to be my girl" Daryl said. I looked at him and kissed him softly and said, "Yes" He smiled at me and I smiled back and put my head on his stomach and he put his arms around me. "That's better" I heard him whisper.

I fell asleep quickly after that.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up in the morning with Daryl's arm still wrapped around me. I smiled to myself then quietly got up so I wouldn't wake him.

I opened the door of the RV and Rick was making 2 groups of search parties for Sophia. "HEY! ANDY!" He called to me. I ran over to him, "Where's Daryl?" He asked. "Still sleeping" I replied, "Well could ya go get him? I need him here now" Rick said.

I nodded then ran over to the RV to wake up Daryl. He wasn't happy about having to get up, but when I told him it was for Sophia, he got right up.

Me and Daryl went over to Rick. "Good we're all here. We need to go look for this girl. We need 2 groups, I'll lead a group and Daryl will. I'll take Shane, Carl, Lori, Carol and Andrea. Daryl gets the rest. Anyone have any other ideas?" Rick asked all of us. Dale raised him hand and said, "I'll stay back and work on the RV if that's all right with you." "Yeah that's fine, but what if another heard come through? I don't need you hurt right now" Rick replied. T-dog stepped up, "I'll stay with him. I'm not much good anyway with my arm all messed up" T-dog said. "All right then, lets get to it. I'll head that way" Rick said pointing straight ahead, "And Daryl, you take our group that way" He said pointing the way Sophia had gone into the woods. "If anyone finds her bring her back here and don't try to find the other search group. We'll all meet back her at sunset" Rick said as he was walking away with his group.

"All right. Come on" Daryl said leading the way. We started walking out into the woods, Daryl would bend down by a broken branch then start walking in that way. I guessed he was tracking her, but I'm no tracking expert.

We walking for what seemed like ever until we hit a river. "This must but where Rick left her" Daryl said pointing to a little shelter of leaves and branches in the river.

We started walking upstream and found nothing. Daryl, who was a few steps ahead came back to join me and Glenn. He came up byt me and held my hand and we continued walking upstream. "So you guy are, like a thing?" Glenn asked.

I looked up at Daryl and he smiled down at me. "That would be correct. Asians are always the smart ones" Daryl replied. "I'm Korean" Glenn said, "Have you told Shane yet?" Glenn asked me. "No, why would I have to? He can figure it out on his own" I replied. "Well it seemed like he had a thing for you" Glenn said. and Daryl squeezed my hand. "No we are not. And we will never be a 'thing' sure he likes me, but I don't like him" I told Glenn and he just nodded his head and we kept walking.

We had found nothing all day so we assumed she had went down stream. He started heading back to the RV until he heard a gun shot. "Get down!" Daryl yelled.

We bent down closer to the ground and a few more yet off, but the sound wasn't anywhere near us. We got up slowly just in case, "Lets go back. Now" I said to Daryl and he nodded his head and we started walking back to the highway.

We didn't here any more gun shots on the way back to the highway, so we just assumed Rick had run into a few walkers and needed to use his gun, but that wasn't the case.

We got back to find Lori crying into Carol's shoulder. I ran over. "What the hell happened?! What was that gun shot?!" I asked, "Carl was shot and taken to a farm to get medical treatment. I'm going there tomorrow" Lori replied. "What about Sophia?" Daryl asked. "I'm staying here for a day to see if she comes back" Carol said, "Then I will to" Daryl said and I looked up at him. "Stay here with me shorty?" He asked and I nodded my head in response. "Great" He said and smiled at me, grabbed my head and lead me to the RV to sleep after the long day.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning when I woke up, Daryl was still sleeping soundly next to me.

I looked down at his sleeping face and smiled to myself, he looked adorable while he was sleeping. I wish I had a camera, Andy thought to herself.

She missed her old life and all it's luxuries, but in some ways her life was better now. She looked down at Daryl sleeping again and kissed his forehead before getting dressed in the last pair of clean clothes she had, and went outside of the RV.

She walked out and saw Lori packing her stuff in a car to take to the farm.

"Need help Lori?" Andy asked.

Lori looked up at her and smiled sadly, "Oh no thanks Andy. That's okay. I'm fine" Then she continued to pack.

Andy shrugged her shoulders and walked away from her. She heard her stomach growl but knew she couldn't have much food in order to have some for later on when the group really needed it, so she decided to take a walk.

As she started to walk into the woods, she heard a gruff voice call after her.

"Hey! Where do ya think you going shorty?" Daryl asked her.

She turned around to see him running toward her. "I'm taking a walk if that's okay with you mom" Andy said sarcastically.

"Actually" Daryl said as her put his arm around her, "It's not. Well at least not alone it's not."

She gave him a smile, "Okay Mr. Dixon, would you like to join me on a walk this lovely day?" She asked him in a sweet voice.

"Well since you asked, yes I would love to" Daryl replied.

They started walking into the woods and Daryl grabbed her hand.

"I'm glad you gonna stay with me here for a few days" Daryl said as they were walking.

"Well I am too" Andy said to him.

"So about Shane... Have you told him about us yet?" He asked her.

"No, I haven't talked to him since the first day on the highway" She replied.

"He'll hate me. I know it"

"Yeah probably but whatever"

"Yeah I'm obviously the better man"

"Totally"

They mostly walked in silence for the rest of the way.

When they got back Lori and some others had already left for the farm. It was just Carol, Daryl, me and Dale left.

"We are only staying behind for a few days right Daryl?" Dale asked Daryl.

"That's the plan. A day maybe 2" He replied.

"Great the RV will be able to drive to the farm but I'm not sure if it's got much left in it" Dale said patting the RV.

"Well It's about noon, do you want to go look for Sophia?" I asked Daryl.

"Yeah, but I wanna hunt too, I'll show ya how shorty. It's easy" Daryl said grinning at me.

"Alright then. Lets go hunt!"

Daryl grabbed his cross-bow and I grabbed my weapons and we went into the woods.

"So you've never been hunting before?"

"Never. I just never got the chance I guess."

"Why not? There's always a chance to do it."

"Well I didn't have a good father. Maybe that's why" I snapped at him then looked away from him.

I stopped walking and sat down.

I put my head in my knees and wrapped my arms around them.

Daryl came over and sat by me, then out his arm around me and brought me closer to him. He kissed the top of my head and sat with me fir about 5 minutes.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked me in a soft voice.

I shock my head no. I was almost going to break down in tears, but I couldn't in front of Daryl.

"Well I am sorry for saying that... Do you still wanna go hunting?"

"Yeah... Yeah I do" I said as he heped me up and we walked out further into the woods.

"Okay shorty, come here and you can shoot with my bow. Now I don't let anyone touch my bow, your the only one who has so you better feel pretty damn special" Daryl said and motioned me to come and hold his bow.

I went over to him and took it from him and he guided my hands to where they needed to be. I felt like we were back at the CDC. That seemed so long ago even though it's only been 4 days.

After he showed me where to put my hands, I saw a squirrel climbing up a tree. I looked back at Daryl and he nodded his head at me.

I relaxed, I aimed the cross-bow, pulled the trigger and a arrow went flying out of the cross-bow. I watched it as it hit the squirrel right where I wanted it to.

"YES!" I shouted and started jumping up and down like a 5 year old. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! DID YOU SEE THAT DARYL?! I SHOT IT!" I yelled as I jumped in his arms. He smiled at me and held me then kissed me softly on the lips.

"Lets go get that squirrel" He said and carried me over to claim my catch.

I picked up the squirrel and turned back around to Daryl and saw a walker behind him and he didn't notice it. "DARYL BEHIND YOU!" I screamed and raised my gun to thee walker.

Daryl spun around and shot it so quick, I didn't even have the trigger back on my gun. I ran over to him as he was getting his arrow and hugged him from behind.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah fine thanks" He replied.

It was almost sunset, so we headed back to the highway. We had no luck on finding Sophia, but I shot a squirrel and Daryl 3. But more importantly, I shot a squirrel!

"We're goin' to the farm tomorrow" Daryl announced when we had reached the highway.

"What about Sophia?" Carol asked, I could hear in her voice she was almost in tears.

"I'll continue looking for the lil' girl when we get to the farm. It sounds like it's just down the road"

"I'll help him too, and I'm sure Rick and everyone else in the group will help look too" I said to Carol.

She smiled gratefully at me and Daryl, then turned and walked away. I went into the RV and layed down on the bed me and Daryl shared. I was half asleep when I heard someone come into the RV.

I smelled something cooking and sat up, it was Daryl bringing me squirrel.

"It's yours. You earned it" He said handing it to me.

"Thank you" I said and grabbed the plate and quickly gulped it down.

After I finished my squirrel, I layed back down, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

The next morning, when I woke up Daryl was laying beside me with his arms around me. I got up slowly and carefully trying not to wake him up. But he did anyway. He turned over to his side and looked at me. I sat on the floor in front of him and put my head in my hands and leaned in to his face. He smiled at me and got up. I got up after him and we went outside to see if everyone else was ready to go to the farm. Everyone was. So we headed out and I hopped on the back of Daryl's motorcycle and we rode off to find the farm we would be staying at.

We only rode a short ways down the road till we came to a farm with a pretty descent sized farmhouse. We stopped at a clearing in the front of the house and I got off the motorcycle and walked over to Rick.

"Rick! Is Carol okay? Where is he?" I asked.

"He's okay thanks to Shane" He replied and I saw Shane walking out if the farmhouse.

"Shit" I muttered to myself as I saw him walk over to me.

"Hey cutie" He said as he walked up to me and out a arm around me.

"Shane stop" I said and he just looked and me and shook his head.

I grabbed his arm and twisted it.

"I said stop" I said as I let his arm go.

I walked back over to Rick. "So where is he?" I asked.

"In the house" He said pointing to the farmhouse.

"Who lives there?"

"A older man named Hershel, His daughters Beth and Maggie and Beth's boyfriend."

"Awesome. See ya later Rick!" I yelled as a ran to he house and knock on the door. A older man came to the door and opened it and led me inside. "How can I help you?" He asked me.

"I'm Andy, with the group outside I just got here with my boyfriend and I wanted to see how Carl is."

"Well It's nice to meet you Andy" He said as we shook hands, "He's right this way" Hershel said as he led me to a room upstairs.

I walked in and Lori was sitting by the bed looking at Carl's unmoving body. She still hadn't noticed me there. "Lori. How is he doing?" I asked and she looked up and me and gave me a small smile.

"Andy hi. He's okay. He's just had surgery and needs to rest for a while" Lori replied then look back down at Carl.

"Has he been awake since the accident?"

"No, but Hershel says he should wakeup sometime soon" She replied without taking her eyes off of her son.

"Well if there's anything I can do for ya just let me know!" I yelled on my way out of the house.

I got outside and look around. It was a fairly nice day so I decided to explore the farm land.

I started walking around, seeing a farm house but not going close. I saw woods in the far back and a small pond I walked over to the pond and saw small minnows swimming around. I looked up and saw a horse fence with a few horses in. I wonder if Hershel will let me ride one, I thought to myself. I continued walking around, not paying attention to my surroundings when someone grabbed me by the waist on pulled me behind a tree. I squirmed around trying to get free, but couldn't. I stopped squirming and looked at the person who grabbed me. It was Shane. "Your a piece of shit you know that?" I said to him and tried to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist.

"Come on Andy. Give me 5 minutes. You know we gotta talk sometime and I want to talk now. So please just hear me out" Shane said with pleading eyes.

"You have 5 minutes. No more."

"Thanks Andy."

"Times ticking."

"Okay first of all I would like to say, I want you to be happy but I want you to be happy with me" Shane started, "Your beautiful and perfect and I'm obviously not and the world has gone to shit and I want to be with you. I want to be there for you, to be your best friend, to protect you but most of all I want to be the most special person there is in your life. Your already the specialist person I know. And I know I sound pretty mushy and gay right now, but It's all 100% true. And Andy," He said as he grabbed my hands and moved closer to my face, "Most of all I love you more then you'll ever know" He whispered then kissed me on the lips.

I pulled away, "Times up Mr. Walsh" I said then ran away to be by myself.


	13. Chapter 13

I ran as fast as I could, as far as I could from Shane.

What the hell just happened?

I stopped running and sat down under a tree and started replaying the whole thing in my head.

I put my head in my knees and started crying.

Did I like Shane after all?

No. No. No. No. I like Daryl.

Shit.

I don't know.

Maybe I shouldn't have starting dating Daryl, but on the over hand I like him a lot.

Come on think Andy.

What do you want?

I was so lost in thought that I didn't here Daryl come up behind me.

"Andy? Is that you? Are you okay?" Daryl's voice startled me and I jumped a little at the sound of it.

Shit.

What would I tell him?

How could I explain why I'm crying?

"Yeah I'm fine Daryl I just want to be alone at the moment" I said not showing him my face.

"Come here shorty" He said and turned my face toward him and cupped him.

"What's wrong?" He asked and I started crying again. I wrapped my arms around him.

I couldn't tell him the real reason I was crying was because I didn't know if I made the right choice being with him.

We sat there for a few minutes, wrapped in each others arms, but I knew I had to make up something believable.

"It's Shane" I said simply, not saying anything more.

"What about that dick head?" Daryl growled.

"He had to talk to me, and I gave him 5 minutes"

"What did he say?"

I didn't answer.

"What did he said Andy?" He snapped in his southern voice. He stood up and looked down at me.

"Andy tell me. Tell me now!" He snapped again.

"Calm down"

"CALM DOWN? I CAN'T CALM DOWN! WHAT THE HELL DID HE SAY?!"

"Daryl it's not that big of a deal he just simply said 'I like you but I want you to be happy. And I want you to be happy with me' And that's it Daryl"

"Is that it Andy? If you ain't telling me somin' you tell maayy now!" He yelled.

"Daryl calm it. Alright? Don't you yell at me got it? He kissed me alright? Is that what ya wanna know?" I yelled back at him.

"Ya that would've been nice to know!" He snapped back.

"Daryl stop your shit. Stop talking to me like I'm nothing! Don't you yell at me or snap back, ya here?"

"I do what I want women!"

"Your a piece of work ya know that?!" I yelled as I ran to be alone again, hoping Daryl wouldn't follow me this time.

I went to set up my tent, far from Daryl's.

Once I was done I went inside and cried again.

Why the hell does life suck?

I stayed in there until I heard someone un-zip the tent and I looked up to see Rick coming in.

He zipped it back up and walked over to where I was and sat by me.

"Andy, are you okay?" He asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine" I replied and looked up at him.

"Do you want to tell me what happened? Daryl is pretty pissed, and had a very loud conversation with Shane and now Shane's pissed off too"

"Well I was dating Daryl, but Shane wanted to talk with me because Shane likes me and then he kissed me and I told Daryl and Daryl got all pissed and god dammit I don't know what I should do" I said and started crying into Rick's shoulder.

He gave me A comforting hug and stayed with me for A few minutes.

"Do you want lunch? There's plenty for everyone" He asked me.

"That would be great, thanks" I replied and Rick walked out.

He was gone for about 5 minutes and he brought me a plate of a few pieces of chicken and a side salad with a glass of water.

"Thanks Rick" I smiled at him gratefully.

"Do you want some company? I need someone to talk to about something" Rick said.

"Yeah I would like that" I replied.

Rick sat next to me and we started eating.

"So Lori's pregnant" He started

"That's great Rick! I'm so happy for you!" I exclaimed.

"That's not all" He said doubtfully, "It might not be mine."

"What?" I said astonished.

I could tell he wanted to cry.

"Awh Rick, I'm here for you, I always am and always will be" I said as I rubbed his back for comfort.

"Thanks Andy" He said as one single tear dropped from his face.

"If you don't mind me asking, who's would it be?" I asked

"Shane. I think It's Shane's"

My mouth dropped. That's what was going on between them. It makes sense, Lori though Rick was dead so she and Shane were together. Oh poor Rick.

"Yeah" He said quietly then started eating again.

"It'll be okay" I said to try and reassure him.

"Thank you. I hope it will be. It's nice to have someone to talk to and be able to let it out, ya know?"

"Yeah it feels good having someone who gets it."

We talked for about 20 minutes as we finished eating, then decided to see what was going on with everyone.

Before we left the tent I gave him a long hug. Then we walked out to face our problems.

Me and Rick parted ways and I went to sit at a picnic bench alone. I was only sitting there for about 5 minutes when someone came up behind me. It was Daryl. "I saw you and Rick come out of your tent" Was all he said.

"What's it to you?" I snapped.

"What were you talking about?"

"What's it to you Daryl? Huh? Just feel like putting your damn nose in everyone's business?"

"I just wanna know what you were talking bout'. Jesus woman."

"Stuff" I said, then Rick came up behind me and said "Thangssss" Then he reached over my shoulder to grab the water pitcher.

"Is there another problem?" Rick asked me.

"So that's what ya'll were doing huh? Talkin' bout' me?" Daryl asked.

"Not just you Daryl, other thangss" Rick replied.

Then Daryl turned back to me and said, "I'm a piece if work? Look at your damn self" And he walked away.

"I can't believe him right now" I told Rick.

"I'm sorry Andy" He said as he gave me a comforting hug.

"Thanks Rick. Ya know? We should do somethin' useful around here, do you know how to hunt?" I asked.

"Kinda, you wanna hunt?"

"Yeah I wanna do something."

"Alright lets get going then" Rick said as he grabbed his shotgun and we hopped in his car to the woods.

**later on after they went hunting... **

"You did awesome, I didn't know you could went so good!" Rick told me.

I had caught 3 squirrels and he caught 2.

"Oh yea, I forgot to tell you that Imma pro obviously" I said teasingly.

Rick laughed and I did too. We were walking back to the farm form where we parked the car, Rick carrying his catch and me carrying mine.

"Does Lori know that we were gone?" I asked.

His face turned from laughter to anger.

"I don't know, she's always with Carl or talking to Shane about whatever" He replied.

"Oh." Was all I said.

We got back to the farm house and brought the squirrels inside.

"Get those nasty things out of here until you wash them!" Hershel screamed once we stepped into the house. I raised my hands in the air as to surrender and walked back out to clean the squirrel, Rick right behind me.

"How the hell do you wash a squirrel?" He asked me jokingly.

"No clue, lets just hose them down I guess" I replied and we walked over to the hose and started 'washing' the squirrel.

Rick was done before me and started to spray me.

"Hey! That's cold!" I screamed and sprayed him.

He sprayed me again and I tried to spray him but he moved away quickly.

"Hey no fair!" I yelled still trying to get him.

"I do what I want!" He yelled back as he sprayed me again.

It was go time.

I ran up to me and sprayed him in the face and he picked me up and sprayed my whole body.

"Oh jesus Rick! It's cold!" I yelled and hung close to his body for the warmth.

Then sprayed him again.

"Hey! What the hell are ya doing?" Daryl ran up and asked.

Rick dropped me and I took off my t-shirt and just wore a tank.

"Stuff" I said.

"Thangsss" Rick said then me and him walked past Daryl to go give the cleaned squirrels to Hershel. I look back at Daryl and he was walking into the woods with his cross-bow. I turned back around and walked into the farm house.

After we gave him our catches we went back outside still soaking wet. I saw Shane walk by and he gave me a smile, I returned it, just to be nice. "I had a lot of fun today, more than I've had in a while. Thank you" Rick said as we were walking side by side.

"I had a lot of fun too. I think we both needed to let go and have fun" I said.

"I have to talk to Hershel, I'll see ya later?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. Definitely. If you need something I'll be in my tent" I replied.

"Alright. Do you wanna sit by me at dinner?" He asked.

"Of course" I replied with a smile. He smiled back then walked toward the house.

I went into my tent and threw on my only pair of shorts. Rick may be able to stay in wet clothes, but not me!

I sat down on my cot and looked up and the top of the tent and just laid there for a while until I heard a gun shot.

Shit.

Walkers?

I grabbed my gun and hunting knife just in case and ran outside. Everyone was running put into the field and Andrea was on top of the RV roof looking shocked. "Andrea!" I called and she looked down and me, "What are they doing over there? Is there a walker?" I asked.

"I...I Shot Daryl" She replied as if she was in a dream.

"What was that?" I asked just to make sure I wasn't hearing things.

"You heard me right" She replied then looked through Dale's binoculars.

I started sprinting as fast as I could out into the field where Daryl lay. I came up behind everyone on, "MOVE YOUR ASSES!" I screamed and everyone moved out of my way and I kneeled down to Daryl. I saw that he was wearing ears around his neck.

"Why the hell does he have ears on him?!" I shirked.

"That's what we wanna know" Rick replied Kneeing down to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. "It'll be alright Andy" Rick whispered reassuringly in my ear. I nodded to respond and let the group pick him up and carry him inside. Carl was good enough to walk now so they put Daryl in his old room.

At dinner I was sitting next to Rick and it was all silent.

After dinner Hershel asked to see me in the kitchen. I walked in and he was doing the dishes. "Hey Hershel. Did you want help doing the dishes?" I asked.

"No, my daughters are going to help me with that, I want you to bring dinner up to Daryl's room. It's the same room that Carl was staying in" He said pointing to the dinner plate for Daryl.

I nodded and grabbed the plate and headed upstairs.

I walked to the room, took a deep breath and walked in. Daryl was still sleeping. 'good' I thought to myself 'I don't have to talk to him.' I carefully set his plate down, care not to wake him, but I failed. "Andy?" I heard him mumble.

"What do you want?" I said in a irritated voice.

He sat up quickly and grabbed the dinner plate. "Oh hey, I didn't want to talk to anyone but you so I pretended to sleep" He said with a smirk.

"Kay. Is that all?" I asked.

"No I haven't said anything yet" He replied.

"You just did" I said as I began to walk out of the room, but he grabbed my wrist.

"Why are you being like this?" He asked.

"Because your a doche, good bye" I tried to walk out again, but his grip help tighter.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't know it would hurt you so much"

"It's fine. But we aren't gonna just go back to what we were" I said and loosened his grip then walked out.

I walked outside, saying good night to Hershel and his daughters.

I walked to my tent and found Shane waiting for me.

"Hey" He said as he stood up.

"Hi, do you need something?" I asked him.

"I want to talk to you, I know that I've been a dick. And I'm sorry, but please just give me a chance" He pleaded.

"I know about you and Lori" I murmured quietly.

"That was a while ago. We're adults and we figured it all out" He said, "but please, Andy, just give me a chance."

He leaned in to kiss me again.

When our lips touched, this time, I kissed him back


End file.
